The extensible markup language (XML) format being introduced and now widely adopted has been transforming the landscape of computer programming. XML has a number of advantages over previous programming languages.
The XML format is considered an accessible format that allows other developers to see the code behind the constructs and build and customize it to their needs. The interoperability of XML programs is also an advantage. Solutions can alter information inside a document or create a document entirely from scratch by using standard tools and technologies capable of manipulating XML.
Individuals and businesses often author documents that have a unique appearance or “look and feel” such that the document style can be used to identify or describe a particular individual or business. Template files for a particular application (such as a word processor) can be used as a starting point so that authors can produce similarly appearing documents using the particular application.
However, it is difficult to apply similar styles for documents authored by different applications (for example, a spreadsheet program and a slide presentation program) because the applications have templates that have different file formats and cannot be used by other programs. The document authors often have to recreate the templates using the differing tools, which often requires a duplication of time and effort and also requires a greater familiarity with the tools being used.
The templates are typically composed of design elements such as color scheme, font scheme, fill, line, shadow, three-dimensional graphics, and the like. Because the template files have different formats, it is often difficult to ensure uniformity between documents authored by differing application types.